Inward investment in the UK falls

After
four years of growth, inward investment activity is now either falling or
static in every UK region.

A
survey by the Financial Times of regional investment agencies confirms
suggestions that investment activity has failed to recover from a decline that
started in the three months to December, when the US slowdown began.

The
downturn is potentially serious because inward investment has emerged as a
substantial generator of economic activity in the past two decades.

The
slowdown appears worse in London, the south-east, Scotland, the Midlands and
the northwest but has also hit Yorkshire, the north east and the east of
England.